Active Learning in the Foundation Stage

How we learn in the Early Years

ACTIVE LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

We ensure that our environment and delivery of the curriculum incorporates what we know about how young children learn. There are three characteristics of effective teaching and learning:

• Playing and exploring - children will have opportunities to investigate and experience things and 'have a go.' Their senses will be active.
• Active learning - children will have time and space to concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy their achievements. They will actively engage with the environment both indoors and out.
• Creating and thinking critically - we encourage and support children to use and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for achieving what they wish.

The characteristics of effective learning are at the heart of our day and pupils, from an early age, are encourage to 'have a go,' ask questions, make links, solve problems and be individual in their thoughts and ideas. These learning behaviours are shared and celebrated with children through each day.

Playing and exploring

Active learning

Creating and thinking critically

Intent

Our curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all pupils. It facilitates them to gain the skills, knowledge and understanding, as they start out on their educational journey, supporting them to progress from their individual starting points and preparing them for the next stage of their education.

Our ethos in Early Years is to support children’s personal, social and emotional development so that they feel safe and secure and are ready to learn.

Through the seven areas of learning we provide themes that excite and engage children, building on their own interests and developing their experiences of the world around them. We recognise that all children come into our setting with varied experiences and all staff work hard to ensure that the learning opportunities provided widen their knowledge and understanding of the world, setting ambitious expectations for all children.

The curriculum celebrates diversity and supports the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Those children with particular needs, including SEND, are supported appropriately allowing them to be successful.

Implementation

The aim of our curriculum is to develop a thirst and love for learning by:

• Carefully planning sequences of activities that provide meaningful learning experiences, developing each child’s characteristics of learning.
• Providing high quality interactions with adults that demonstrate and impact on the progress of all children.
• Using high quality questioning and interactions to check understanding and address misconceptions.
• Staff acting as role models to the children they teach in order for children to develop their own speaking and listening skills.
• Carefully assessing, through observations and play partnering. These are used to inform the next steps of learning and meet individual needs.
• Developing an effective and engaging environment that is set up so that children can access all areas of learning both inside and outside at any one time.
• Providing activity starting points for child initiated activities that enhance children’s learning and impact on progress.
• Allowing children to be successful in their attempts at an activity and using effective feedback to help facilitate next steps in learning.
• Suggesting home learning opportunities with information about what has been taught, allowing parents to build on their child’s school experiences, at home.

We recognise the changing needs and interests of our pupils and we are responsive to this, regularly developing existing topics.

The Early Years uses core texts as a basis for thematic planning and usually start with an exciting hook to engage children in both the topic and the book.  These texts are chosen for their level of challenge and quality language. They have also been chosen with a view to promoting reading for pleasure.

Phonics is taught daily through Essential Letters & Sounds . The phonics activities are revisited to embed over the year and supported in a range of ways through our continuous provision.

The maths curriculum is taught through dedicated Power Maths sessions and Master the Curriuclum. These sessions are carefully planned using concrete resources and build on prior learning and real life experiences across the theme and year.

All seven areas of learning are encompassed within our thematic curriculum and allow all children to revisit and reinforce learning as well as giving the children opportunities to explore new learning and new experiences.

Parents are actively encouraged to be part of children's learning through 'Storytime' sessions, Tapestry and sharing experiences from home with school.

Impact

Children demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities, developing their speaking and listening skills, enabling them to access more areas of the learning and communicate to both adults and children. Children develop skills across all areas of the curriculum, including literacy, mathematics and physical development using these in different ways.

Children have developed a wider sense of the world around them and can draw on these experiences during interactions with others and link this to new learning.

Children develop their characteristics of learning and are able to apply their knowledge to a range of situations, making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. Children are confident to take risks and discuss their successes and failures with adults, drawing on their experiences to improve or adjust what they are doing.

From their own starting points, children will make excellent progress academically and socially, developing a sense of themselves so that they are  prepared for Key Stage 1.